Mary Gordon
Mary Gordon
Mary Catherine Gordonis an American writer and the McIntosh Professor of English at Barnard College. She is best known for her novels, memoirs and literary criticism...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth8 December 1949
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
gifts given greatly life second
My mother really loved me. And one of the gifts that I have been given is that I have never thought for one second of my life that I was not greatly beloved.
life
My life is so much better than I thought it was going to be.
books came coal great job joy largely life mine tramp worked
I don't have any great first job tales: I've never worked on a tramp steamer or in a coal mine or anything like that. I think the inspiration for my writing came largely from my father and the joy that life in books represented to me.
believe life primary
I believe that if your primary motivation in life is to be moral, you don't become an artist.
early folk knows life national nobody shower sing singer strictly
In my early life, I was a professional folk singer. I used to sing on the national television and radio in Canada. Nobody knows that - but now I've said it, haven't I? I'm strictly a shower singer at the minute.
absolutely among chic ironic people sad
I think coldness is chic among writers, and particularly ironic coldness. What is absolutely not allowable is sadness. People will do anything rather than to acknowledge that they are sad.
guts inspired people thinks
My weakness is 'American Idol.' My husband thinks it's ridiculous. But I am so inspired by those young people who are singing their guts out.
based job pension people policy taking until
I wasn't thinking about my pension plan until about two years ago. When I was in my twenties, the idea that you'd be thinking of taking a job based on its health-care policy was completely foreign. But these days young people are thinking about these things.
happiness
We all of us deserve happiness or none of us does.
reminds valuable walking
It's like walking into a cathedral.. It reminds me that what I do in the world is a valuable and important thing.
air alive became children grew house object vivid
Once the children were in the house the air became more vivid and more heated; every object in the house grew more alive
belonged courage gave graduate group move poetry school women
It was actually a women's writing group I belonged to in graduate school that gave me the courage to move from poetry to fiction.
lose seems turned
Everything that turned out well for me seems like a fluke. I feel like, at any moment, I could lose everything and be working at Dunkin' Donuts.
claiming feminism feminists public though women
Feminism is very much a part of a lot of my student's lives, but they're not going to march about it or take a public political stance. And I think more and more young women are claiming that they're not feminists - even though they are.